Did you know September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month? If you didn’t, you’re not alone. Many people do not know what the month signifies. Yet every day, two full classrooms of kids are diagnosed with cancer. On a sunny day in September of last year, our son became one of them.

We have met many people since that day, many parents and kids also fighting for survival, also in shock that this could happen to them. Many are not as lucky as Elliot, to be now in remission with good chances of a cure. (He will be declared “cured” if the cancer does not come back for two years. So for now, we have scans every 3 months and always the anxiety of a possible relapse.)

While doctors and researchers have made strides in the battle against so many other types of cancer, the lack of funding and awareness for our children has led to an insignificant improvement in survival rates for pediatric cancer over the past decade. As a result, cancer continues to be the number one disease killer of children, more than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and pediatric AIDS combined! So how does childhood cancer become a priority cause? The journey begins with each of us. We need your help to raise more funds and more awareness. And it’s important to note, that although this particular charity is based in the States, the research and medical breakthroughs in kids’ cancer are always shared on an international level. In fact, Elliot’s protocol was developed and overseen by SIOP (International Society for Pediatric Oncology), his test results and the genetic tests on his cancer cells were sent for analysis outside of our country, and the resulting knowledge becomes part of a fact-finding mission on a world-wide level.

Please share Elliot’s story with your friends and family on September 10th and ask them to join you in donating in his honour. Together, we can make curing childhood cancer as urgently important as it should be.